I Should Be Folding Laundry

Even though it's raining outside.

*updated below*

I know I said I would tell you the story about the trees today, but, OH MY GOSH, today has been amazing.  And it's only 11:22 am.  (and the tree story is difficult for me, so I'll just push that little item to tomorrow's to-do list, k?)

I was on the phone with Christy this morning telling her about everything and she said "you should share this on your blog."

So, I'm going to.  I have to preface everything by saying that I really do not like talking about things that I "get," as in material possessions.  So, if I seem shallow and weak, well, that's okay.

I'm allowed. 

First of all, a couple of things:

1.) I love Seal.  If I could meet anyone, it would be Seal.  I would eat him for dinner, night after night after night.   I would make him dinner, night after night after night.  (which says a lot)  I have loved him since high school and have been devoted ever since.  He's handsome, he's poetic, he's emotional, he's awesome.

In high school, my boyfriend (at the time) and I bought tickets to see him at a huge venue in Chicago.  We got lost on the way there, we were totally late and we were seven miles from the stage. I swear we saw him sing four songs.  I bought a t-shirt and wore it to bed for years.  and stopped when it shrunk.  ahem.

Seal doesn't tour much, I'm not sure why.

2.)  I bought a new camera.  I loved my D40X, but I knew the day would come when I would want a better camera and I knew a day would come when I'd want to learn more about photography and hope that some day I would do it professionally.  I didn't know the day would come less than a year after buying the D40x.  I had many people offer to buy my D40x before I even mentioned buying a better camera.  So, we found a really, really good deal on eBay for the camera I wanted with five lenses, tripods, 16 gb of memory, and TONS of other stuff. We ordered it last Thursday.

3.)  I was planning to join Weight Watchers today, but I hesitated because it's so FREAKIN' EXPENSIVE.  (see #2 if you wonder why that matters...)

4.) Remember when my kitchen flooded one week after moving into our brand new house?  Remember that?  Brian was out of town?  I can remember trying to vacuum up the water into the shop vac and wanting to collapse in defeat, right there into the water, but I also remember thinking, something good has to come out of this.  Well, not only did it flood our ktichen, but our basement, too, and inside our basement were some couches that we had purchased before our current set. 

Okay, so...
Because the flood ruined our couches, we were able to buy a new set thanks to our trusty home insurance.  And it came in yesterday and we LOVE it.

Then, this morning?  My camera came in.  (HOORAY FOR FED EX!)

Then, while I was waiting patiently (read: sitting by it and staring at it) for my camera battery to charge, a commercial came on TV, which is crazy because I NEVER have the TV on in the morning and there was a commercial saying Seal was coming to Northwest Indiana.  I almost had a heart attack right there.  I went to tickmaster.com to see where else he was playing and the only other scheduled performance is in San Diego.  He's playing twice.  Once in San Diego and the other in Northwest Indiana.  The tickets go on sale tomorrow, but what I would give to MEET him.  OH MY GOSH, I feel so silly being so in love with a star, but seriously?  He is it for me.  JUST HIM, nobody else.  Anyway, presale tickets are on sale now, but we need an AMEX to buy them.  SONOFABITCH!

Then I called Christy and spazzed about Seal and saw the mail came.  I told her "if I go to the mailbox and my paycheck came?  It will make the greatest day!"

So, I went out to get the mail and get Ariel off of the bus (in the pouring rain) and my check was in there, along with a postcard from Weight Watchers asking me to come back and offering me 25% off.  What are the chances?!

Days that are overflowing with joy are so special to me.  The excitement I am feeling today is immeasurable, and I appreciate it so much.  More than I ever have before.

I have to go take pictures, pray for good Seal tickets, sit on my new couch and join Weight Watchers.  But first we need to sing and dance with Seal and celebrate this very, very good day.  It's a family affair, we can't wait for Daddy to join us later on.

update! We got the tickets! It's pretty fun being 31 years old and going around and asking folks if they have an Amex, Brian asked a co-worker and viola! WE ARE GOING TO SEE SEAL!! (I may die of a heart attack before then, but that's okay!) And since I wrote this a few hours ago, our broken Wii that we sent to the Wii people, was returned to us this afternoon and it works!  The good day continues.  Well except that the good people at Weight Watchers charged my account three times and they aren't responding to me, but I'll just pretend that's not happening, m'kay? And Seal, if you are reading this, and I'm sure you are, I promise I won't be a crazy person should you want to meet me.  Promise.

Pictures.

As promised, I am here to post some pictures.

Except I am not posting a ton of pictures of our house tonight, nope, instead, I am posting pictures a ton of pictures I took outside.  I LOVE taking pictures of nature, it makes me feel good, it's good for my soul, I love having the shots show up on my screensaver. Between you and me?  When taking pictures, I think of James and Jake with every shot, I'm not sure why, I just do.

Like I said, it's good for my soul.  (by the way, Carrie was wondering what kind of camera I have, Carrie, I have the Nikon D40X.  It's fantastic.)

It's been awhile since I have taken any fun outdoor pictures, but today the kids and I went for a walk in a park about six minutes from my new house.  My dream is to have some of my favorite photos printed (high quality, not at Walgreens) and professionally framed and then place them on my walls.  That would make me happy.  (anyone know of any photo printing service that's inexpensive?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Beuller?)

So, here are a few of the pictures I took.  And at the end I added a picture of my kitchen that I took tonight, all unpacked and moved in.  You can also see that Servpro is still at our house, YES, you read that right, they are still treating the flood that occurred last Wednesday.  Now all that's left is a smaller fan and a big de-humidifier, which is nothing compared to the two massive industrial fans that were there up until yesterday. Hopefully what's left in there now will be gone by tomorrow.  (with any luck, which  I seem to have none.)

On to the outdoor shots.  It was roughly 187 degrees outside with 100% humidity, which does not bother me, but the kids, well, they did not appreciate the heat, so time was limited, but the subjects were not.

And this one reminds of James and Jake.  I saw this tree and it was very symbolic and beautiful to me.

Here's a shot I took last week of a storm system that was heading in our direction.  I took this on my porch.  This storm barely even produced rain.

And here's my kitchen tonight, can you spot the machinery in the kitchen?

And here is what is supposed to be a dining room that we changed into an office.  I am loving the way this room is turning out.  It's part of Ruby & Roja Headquarters!  Now if I could just stop storing everything on the desk, maybe I could get some work done. This was taken at sunset.

Are you bored to tears, yet?  or do you want more house pictures?

Sharing

It's Monday, June 2nd. 

It's June.  The only month I dread more than I dread June is July.  Which is next.

Somehow I have to pretend that the twins probably would not have been born THIS month.  I also need to pretend that I would not have already had a baby shower.  And I can pretend that my heart isn't breaking, while I'm at it.

So, to help me pretend, I thought I'd share some random pictures with you, it's been awhile since I've shared pictures with you and well, I think today is a pretty good day to do it.  Oh and I also think that June may not be as bad as I had thought it would be, good things have been happening, so I'll hold tight onto those things and try not to look back.

Here are some interesting tree photos that I took while walking with my little family two weeks ago - things in nature become much more interesting when you are looking for good shots.  You notice so much more.

Doesn't this tree resemble elephant legs?

What's that?  You are tired of trees?  You have your own trees to look at?  Fine, look at my bedroom, this is what it looked like last Thursday night and it grew increasingly worse until last night when I finally broke down and cleaned it.  And yes, I make my bed every single day no matter what.  It's a favorite habit of mine.  Well, that and never leaving dirty dishes in the sink.  So, the sink is clean and the bed is made but the rest of the house is a disaster.  Works for me.

I love taking pictures of barns.  My dream is to spend an entire day taking pictures of old barns in Indiana.  I love the colors and the textures and all of the history each one holds.  This one is about 3 minutes from my house. 

This is my dying computer.  See the fabric in the back?  That is what keeps my computer from dying, it holds the cord in such a way that my laptop won't die.  This morning I thought it was the end, I tried to wake her up and she didn't respond.  Then I touched her and she was so cold.  But, I revived her and now she's on life support, which means a pair of Racecar's pajamas are keeping it alive.  But never fear, I ordered a new Dell about 3 weeks ago and it supposed to arrive this Wednesday.  (FINALLY!)  By the way, it's a laptop and it's red which equals AWESOME.

Oh and those are my cheerios and Racecar just took a bite of my cheerios because apparently they are better than his.

Here's milk he spilled when he took a bite of my cheerios.  I wish all of his spills were this pleasant to look at:

And here is a dog.  This dog is so hungry and sad.  The only food I had with me when I saw him were blueberry muffins and I threw them at him, but I guess he doesn't like blueberry muffins because he just stared at my like this:

So, that's it.  My pictures.  I hope you enjoyed it. Oh wait!  I forgot to show you what my sister got me for Mother's Day - I love that it's called Two Together, but I also love that it says Love in Abundance.  Because I do, even with a broken heart, I love in abundance
.

A Favorite

Last week in pictures...

I took over 1300 pictures with my new camera last week, it was difficult to narrow it down to just these few, but I managed.

I love my camera.  But I also love my lens.

This is Racecar's favorite sandwich.  I love that it's his favorite sandwich.

Speaking of Racecar...

The girl's turn.

And finally,

See you tomorrow.

Reboots Gone Wild

All of a sudden today, my laptop lost it's wireless connection.  I was all like "what is going on?  I can't go five minutes without internet on my laptop."  So, I closed some programs and did a reboot on my computer and well, let's just say that was the last time I saw it breathing.

Luckily, Brian did a back up yesterday, good guy that he his, but now I sit here at his desktop, a desktop of all things, trying to blog.  It's just so uncomfortable, I have to sit up straight and my legs are all on the floor and my back is to the TV, it's not right.  Not fair.  Honestly, I'm just not used to using a desktop, I've been using a laptop for over seven years.  When I'm sitting here at the desk I feel like I'm at work.  I feel like I should be gossiping with my co-workers, or trying to figure out which internet sites are blocked and most of all, I'm trying to figure out when I get a break. 

So, while Brian is swearing at my laptop, I guess I'll tell you about my new camera.  It's luscious and amazing and I slept it with it, or at least I was going to, but Brian pointed out that it's bad enough that I sleep with a stuffed animal let alone a camera and a stuffed animal. 

On Saturday, I bought the Nikon D40x.  I've had my eyes and heart set on it since I drooled over Crooked Eyebrow's Nikon D40 back on September 1.  After I left my make out session with her Nikon D40, I began doing internet searches on it and everything turned up with "BEST CAMERA EVER; GO BUY IT; WHO CARES WHAT YOUR HUSBAND SAYS."  or at least that is what I thought my searches came up with. Then Chris bought one and started to post pictures taken with her new Nikon and I almost couldn't take it any longer.   The problem?  First, big bucks, sister.  Second problem, I had just purchased a Brand New Sony H9 on August 1.  That's right - one month prior to meeting the D40.  It's like a bad love story. 

But I finangled and saved and made promises of "this will be my Christmas gift and my birthday gift" (from Brian, not from you, you are not off the hook.) and here I am, the proud Mama of a Nikon D40x.  It's fast and the pictures are amazing.  And it sleeps through the night.

Here's a picture of Ariel in her Jasmine costume yesterday:

and one of Buzz Lightyear:

and here's a dog.  It's a real dog, not someone in a costume.

I'm pleased, real pleased.

Of course, maybe I should have purchased a new laptop instead.

Don't ever say that again.

okay, fine.  One more picture.

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee Winners!

It was 4:50 a.m., I was lying in bed when I realized I hadn't posted the winners for the coffee, yet.  I picked the winners on Friday night, but they just sat in a lowly word document all day yesterday.

How rude of me.  But now, I'm awake at 4:55 a.m., not able to sleep, which is my worst nightmare and I figured - Hey!  How About Some Blogging!?  By the way, I've been awake for a VERY.LONG.TIME.

so here i am.  very thrilled, very excited to be here, not missing my warm, soft bed.  at all.

THE WINNERS of a 12 oz. bag of Dunkin' Donuts coffee are:

Susan (who was #1, if you ever thought that the number one never wins, well, it does!)
Say Anything
Heather P. (Snows In April)
Jessica (no blog - aol e-mail)
CanCan

I received my 12 oz bag on Saturday, it's divine!

If you find yourself a winner, please send me your shipping address at foldinglaundry AT gmail DOT com.    Congrats to the luck & caffeinated winners!  If you didn't win, remember, you can get a free sample by clicking here.  Thank you to Dunkin' Donuts for the very fun and delicious giveaway!

And since I'm still awake and still not going to be able to fall asleep, apparently, if you are looking for some good blog reads, visit Lisa at Take 90 West or Sarah at Milk and Honey.  They're good, good people.

I guess I'll go read the manual for my new camera that we bought on Saturday...Why yes I did say new camera...And yes I did just buy a new camera in August...Yes I am a little crazy. 

But I'll tell you all about the crazy later.  You know I will.